Love In The System
by Jazza-44
Summary: Mandy looked up hesitantly. She gazed up at the program that stood before her. He was average height, but handsome, with one hell of a body, and the skin-tight, white suit left very little to the imagination. Caster's eyes widened slightly when she looked at him. "A User? On the Grid?" Caster's voice was barely audible over the music, but it wasn't his voice she was interested in.
1. Frustrated

"Sam!" An assistant, John, yelled over the noise of the newly re-opened 'Flynns' arcade machines and the voices of excited teens. "Will you tell your daughter to quit messing with the Tron game? It's unusable!"

Sam sighed as he made his way towards the back of the old arcade to where his eighteen year old daughter, Mandy, was fiddling with the wiring in the side of the old 'Tron' game. It was inevitable that his daughter... his and Quorra's daughter, should want to find out about this particular game. It was in her blood to be inquisitive, and to be an uncertified genius when it came to technology - especially computers.

Mandy looked similar to both Sam and Quorra. She had her mother's slim but well-rounded figure and raven black hair, she had Sam's blue-green eyes and warm smile, but she also had inherited Sam's stubbornness. Sam looked past that particular trait and concentrated more on her wild emotions which provided a constant entertainment.

"Mandy Flynn," Sam called to his daughter. She turned and looked at him. Her long, black hair fell in loose, shiny curls to just below her shoulders. The tight, black, leather pants and shirt she was wearing was showing off what she had more than her father liked. Especially since he could see several of the older boys checking her out, but they didn't go near her because of the biker look she was carrying. To anyone who didn't know her, she would have looked dangerous and completely off limits. She could beat the crap out of anyone she chose, but she didn't. Mandy rolled her eyes at him when he didn't say anything more and smirked before she turned back to what she was doing.

"Hey, dad." Mandy replied as Sam came to kneel beside her. "I swear, I've nearly got this."

"Mandy, this game was decommissioned when my father owned this arcade, years ago," Sam told his daughter for the millionth time, she was too much like him. "The game doesn't work anymore."

But the system behind it still did. It wasn't that he didn't want her to see it... it was just that he didn't want to lose her. Or at least not lose her any more than he already had.

"One day I'll show you the grid." Sam said to Mandy. He'd been telling her that since she was six years old, been telling her the stories of the grid, but that's all it was... stories and riddles about a place she would probably never know existed in reality.

"What does that even mean?" Mandy asked, her tone flippant. "You've been saying that to me ever since I was little but you won't explain it. It's just part of your story. You're 'make-believe' story of how you met mum and went on some wild and crazy adventure that you amazingly lived through."

"One day, you'll understand." Sam said, as he pulled a stray lock of hair from her bright eyes. "One day."

"One day isn't good enough anymore dad, one day doesn't explain to me what you've been talking about all these years or what those words even mean. When are you going to realise that I'm not a little girl anymore but that I have, in fact, grown up. I'm eighteen, not six. I don't need a rich father who always speaks in riddles... I need a dad I can depend on, who's not always away on business trips that can last months at a time or can't talk to me because he needs to take this call or send an email that could wait five minutes. Where's my loving dad who used to read to me and help me with my homework and give me advice when I needed it." Mandy fumed.

"You haven't needed help with your homework for years now." Sam replied, wanting to avoid this fight.

"That's not the point, dad," Mandy yelled. "I don't know you anymore."

She stood up and grabbed her jacket off the floor before turning back to him, still kneeling on the floor beside the 'Tron' game she'd been trying to fix.

"I'm going home." Mandy announced. "I'll come back later when you're gone."

Sam stood and watched his daughter walk away from him and out the doors of the arcade. He listened as her motorcycle revved into life and then sped off down the road, the sound growing continually fainter, until he could hear its engine no more.


	2. The Grid

Mandy put her key into the lock to the old 'Flynn's' gaming arcade, entering as quickly as she had left this afternoon. It was dark now and the place was completely deserted. She thought about how mad she'd been, and still was at her father. Shaking her dark hair from her eyes, Mandy flipped the switches on the circuit board in front of her and turned to watch a hundred games come to life again.

Mandy walked slowly towards the back of the arcade, making her way towards the 'Tron' game.

"I'll show you the grid," Mandy muttered to herself as she pushed a quarter into the Tron machine. "Yeah, right."

Mandy continued to mumble to herself as the quarter fell through then out slot, the clink of the coin clearly audible in the desolate quite of the empty arcade, the coin wasn't accepted by the machine.

As Mandy bent down to pick up the coin, she noticed a circular groove surrounding the gaming area.

'The game must be on a turntable.' She finally concluded and set about trying to shift the machine.

When it finally gave way, Mandy discovered an old door - rusty at the hinges, the metal turning green from age and exposure to damp. Mandy gave the once concealed door a good shove and it came open. Aside from the layers of dust and enormous cobwebs present in the room, there was nothing special about the place... except for an old and rather large computer situated in the middle of the back wall. Mandy turned the ancient computer on and sat down to have a look see what data files it still held. The way everything had played out during this present visit to 'Flynn's' arcade reminded Mandy of the story her dad used to tell her when she was younger. In fact, it was exactly the same.

'Coincidence has to be.' Mandy thought to herself as the old screen lit up.

"Okay..." Mandy said, getting down to business, half talking to herself half to the computer. "Let's see what you know."

Mandy typed:

**Who am I?**

The reply was:

**Flynn.**

"Okay, last names aside, what data have you got stored in you?" Mandy asked the room.

Mandy smiled, hacking into PC systems was her speciality. She got past the server files and navigated her way to the mater file to discover a sequencing program for an old laser project.

She clicked on the program to open it and the computer brought up a dialogue box, asking her:

**Continue?**

**Yes No**

Mandy hesitated for a second; this was getting all too like that old story. But that was just a story... wasn't it? Mandy finally rolled her eyes at her own paranoia and clicked the '**Yes**' option. The next thing Mandy knew, she was sucked into oblivion by something and had the simultaneous sensations of flying and falling. As soon as she stopped moving, her eyes flew open. She was in a dark room, not unlike the one she had been in a few moments ago. This was just a little too weird, but Mandy had never been able to leave well enough alone. Mandy bolted from the room and out the doors of the arcade.

The sight that lay before her was, in Mandy's mind...impossible. Had the world gone nuts in the ten minutes it had taken her to hack a computer?

"Okay," Mandy said to herself. "We're not in Kansas anymore..."

It was all different. Lit up. Electrified. Blue, red and white lights that resembled neon tubing, or perhaps a semi-contained radio-active substance.

A spotlight shone down on Mandy from above, temporarily blinding her. As Mandy began to put together a logical conclusion in her head, a deep voice rang out, loud and clear, directly above where she stood.

_**"Program. Identify Yourself."**_

"Program...what program?"

_**"You do not comply."**_

"What? I'm not a program!" Mandy yelled, and then began to consider what was being said. _'Program? Identify? I'm not...no...No way! I'm on the grid! Ha! I'm on the grid!'_

_**"Retrieve Program."**_

"Oh," Mandy said, eyes widening. "Not good."

As a large transport craft appeared overhead and began its decent, Mandy ran. She took a left at the end of the block. Jumping into a side alley as the road began to break up into hexagonal shaped platforms that rose and fell, making the road mountainous.

Mandy took one brief look, saw the retrieval programs coming, and took off down the alley. She came out the other end was abruptly seized by two strong programs and dragged down the street.

"Where you think you going, pretty face?" One of them said.

"Let go!" Mandy yelled at the top of her lungs as she struggled against their hold.

"Now, now, little miss," The other said. "She's a tough little program."

"I'm not a program!" Mandy tried to explain. "I'm a...I'm a...a user!"

Mandy suddenly remembered with perfect clarity, the stories her father had once told her as a small child. Stories of the grid and the amazing adventures that could take place there.

"Come on, girly." The same program said roughly. "User or program, you need an identity disc."


	3. Help

Mandy watched, fascinated by her new surroundings. She was descending on a platform, her feet glued to the floor. The platform came to a halt in the middle of a bare room. Four men came out of sections in the walls and began to move about her. One of the men somehow fitted her with an identity disc then stepped back to let one of is fellows to fit her with other clothes.

"Uh-uh." Mandy said in a _tsk-tsk _voice. "No one messes with the leather and lace."

She freed her feet and jumped, doing a mid-air split in which her feet connected with the program's in front of and behind her, sending them shattering into a million micro-pixels. The other two programs looked at Mandy and backed away from her into their wall spaces.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Mandy asked.

The darker skinned of the remaining two replied. "Survive."

"Survive? Survive what?" Mandy asked frantically as she was lifted into the air by the same platform as before.

Mandy gazed about herself as she came to a stop once more and a different program came up to her and handed her a black stick.

"Round one," the program stated. "Light Cycles."

"Light Cycles?" Mandy asked as he left the arena.

She looked around and watched as several others jumped forward and a different, light-covered, enclosed, motorbike-looking, vehicle appeared around each program.

"Oh yeah," Mandy smirked as she did the same and took off. "I got this!"

She sped across the gaming grid, copying what her team mates did. They cut off the other team's members and they were, rather effectively, de-rezzed. The team then turned on itself, so Mandy stayed well out of the way until there was only one program left on the field.

His lights were green and he looked nasty. He meant business. They charged each other, head-on at full speed, meaning to slam into each other. Mandy pulled her identity disc off and turned at the last minute, smashing her opponent into smithereens with her disc in the process.

"_Winner, Unknown Contestant._" A deep voice boomed from overhead. "_Identify._"

"My name is Mandy," she replied after a moment's hesitation. "And I am not a program."

"_What are you then?_" The same voice boomed, slightly mocking now.

"I'm a user." Mandy stated loudly.

The entire stadium went silent for a moment, and then roared to life, with pockets of chatter reaching her ears briefly before armed men came down from a transport vessel –much like a spaceship- and then escorted her on board a vessel that floated above them.

"Master, the disturbance you requested to be brought on board is here." A follower stated, and Mandy just stared at the man she had been brought before…he was orange!

"Ah, thank-you." The man, presumably a figure of authority, gestured for Mandy to sit with him. She complied. "A User back in the system...and put on the gaming grid no less! What an opportunity has befallen us!"

Mandy found all this even more bizarre than the 'appear-out-of-thin-air' light-cycles. "Um, I don't wish to seem rude or anything...but, who are you? And... what opportunity?"

"Do forgive me, my dear," he smiled, but it wasn't genuine. "I am Lingdon, Grid Commander. Appointed after the demise of Clu. I continued some of the practises held whilst he ruled... such as the games."

"I see," Mandy replied, eyeing a program, who sat drinks in front of them both, cautiously. "What little I saw of the city, before I was taken to the games, you... are repairing some areas."

"Yes, Clu left much destruction after his demise." Lingdon, as he called himself, smiled again. He had his own agenda for her - and she knew it. "But now that your here, you can help us to rebuild our world quickly and efficiently. With your abilities, we could be normal again in...two hundred and forty cycles!"

"What! That's five days...I can't be missing for five days!" Mandy exclaimed as she figured out how long that was in her own dimensions time frame.

"Now, now, calm yourself, my dear." Lingdon ordered. "We need your help...and you will be allowed to explore our fair city...perhaps you could visit the End of Line club. It's the most popular place on the grid."

"But..." Mandy thought about arguing and decided against it, regarding his 'you will obey' tone carefully. "Okay." She replied reluctantly, already formulating plans of escaping in her head. He wanted to keep her around, perhaps as a weapon and Mandy wasn't having any of that. She was going to get out of here, one way or another.

"Excellent!" Lingdon said at length. "You will be shown to your temporary quarters."

"Actually, if it's okay... I would like to go and explore. You said something about a club?" Mandy asked, wondering exactly how far she could push this.

"Of course," Lingdon hesitated. "Do you need guides?"

"I think I'll be alright." Mandy replied, trying to remain as calm as possible.

"Hmmm." Lingdon didn't seem so sure.

"I'll go with her." A timid, yet distinctly male voice said from behind her.

"Xamec?" Lingdon asked, raising an eyebrow. "Very well, you will be her escort."

_'Great,'_ Mandy thought. _'Now I have to dodge or de-rezz a body guard as well as find a way out of here!'_

Mandy glanced about herself nervously, casting a sideways glance at her escort. She..._they_...so far, had nothing to say to one another.

"So...you do this often?" Mandy attempted small talk.

"No, you fall into a computer system often?" Xamec asked, a smirk crossing his face momentarily.

"Never." Mandy replied, a returning smile on her face.

"You're a User."

"You're a Program."

"You want to get out of here."

"Ten out of ten Sherlock." Mandy replied. "Of course I want to get out of here. I want to go home and go to bed."

"Lingdon is going to try to use you for his own ends."

"I gathered...why are you telling me this?"

"Because I don't want him to." Xamec replied.

"So you're going to help me?" Mandy was sceptical.

"Yes... as far as I can. I am going to take you to a person who will be able to help more...as long as he is still on our side." Xamec told her as they rounded a corner. "He's in there."

Mandy looked where Xamec pointed. The building in front of them just kept going up...and up...and up! "This is ridiculous."

"This is the tallest building on the grid...and also, it so happens, that your only hope is in there... on the top floor." Xamec replied.

"Na ah. I ain't going up there." Mandy was getting scared just looking at how high the place was.

"Afraid of heights, User?" Xamec asked, a cheeky smile appearing on his face.

"Yes...very." Mandy said honestly, as they continued towards the building. "End of Line."

**...**

**R&R people! ;)**


	4. End Of Line

Mandy took an involuntary step backwards when the lift doors opened and her ears were assaulted by loud 'doof-doof' music. She looked about herself, wide-eyed and speculative, as Xamec pulled her through the packed crowd to the bar at the back of the room.

"Do you want a drink?" Xamec asked her as she seated herself at the bar next to him.

"Oh, no, thanks anyway..." Mandy looked around the room, at the mass of dancing bodies in the centre of the dance-floor, then back to Xamec. "Remind me...why are we here again?"

"You need a way out. I know someone who can do that... recall that?" Xamec asked, smirking.

"Ah, yes. Now I remember...all the loud music must have temporarily made me forget." Mandy rolled her eyes at her new found friend. "When do I get to meet my so-called 'saviour'?"

"As soon as I catch his attention and he comes over." Xamec replied casually.

"Oh! So it's a 'he'!" Mandy exclaimed sarcastically.

Xamec stood and waved at someone. "He's coming. Don't turn around until I say so."

"Why?" She cocked her head to one side, confused.

"Because he'll know you're a user just by seeing those questions in your eyes." Xamec stated bluntly.

"Xamec!" An unfamiliar voice exclaimed from just behind Mandy, causing her to jump slightly. "How good to see you again, old chap."

"Caster." Xamec nodded respectfully in reply. "It's been a while."

"Forty cycles if I'm not mistaken." Caster replied from behind her again. "What brings you here?"

"I have someone with me whom I believe you should meet." Xamec smiled.

"Excellent! Who though exactly?" Caster asked.

Caster. That name rang a bell. Why? Wait. It was another of the names from her father's stories. What was it? Caster was two people. Night club owner…and a revolutionist! Mandy's eyes widened as she remembered the correct part of the story. Caster was Zuse. He did something to her father…but, what was it?

"Mandy, you may turn around now." Xamec caught her attention. She spun round on her stool slowly, her gaze turned to the ground. "Caster, this is Mandy… Mandy, this is Caster."

Mandy looked up hesitantly. She gazed up at the program that stood before her. He was average height, but handsome, with one hell of a body, and the skin-tight, white suit left very little to the imagination. Caster's eyes widened slightly when she looked at him.

"A User? On the Grid?" Caster's voice was barely audible over the thumping of the music.

"She needs your help." Xamec interrupted, which allowed Mandy to escape Caster's gaze as he looked at Xamec.

There was something, a look in his eyes, the insinuation her father had always made when speaking of Caster… he just couldn't be trusted.

"Ah," Caster looked at Mandy a little differently now, assessing her looks and figure rather than as a user. "Perhaps this is a conversation best had _behind_ closed doors."

"Indeed." Xamec nodded his agreement. "Lead the way."

Caster strutted off towards a set of floating stairs, cane in hand, whilst Mandy and Xamec followed. Xamec explained where it was they were headed and why. Caster's private rooms sat high above the dance floor scene below. Low enough to clearly see what was happening below, but high enough to allow complete privacy… and completely sound proof on all sides.

"Make this yourself?" Mandy asked as Caster poured drinks for each of them,

"I did." Caster replied, smiling. However, upon seeing the look on Mandy's face, his voice cooed. "It's true!"

"I don't doubt it." Mandy said, feeling a little awkward just standing in the middle of the room being scrutinised by the man with hair so white, she felt she needed sun-glasses just to look at him.

"So," Caster said as he sat on one of his couch's and motioned for Xamec to sit opposite him and Mandy next to himself. He gave Mandy a sly smirk as she complied and took the drink he offered her. "How may I be of service to you my dear? Do you need a confidant? A business partner? Illegal Identities? Friend? _Lover_?" Caster winked at Mandy.

"She needs a way off the grid." Xamec explained.

Mandy felt a sudden, incredibly strong, urge to slide a little further away from Caster. A little further away from his stare… and his smug smile.

"Ah, leaving are we?" Caster asked rhetorically. "Well, you came to the right program!"

"That's why I brought her to you, Caster." Xamec explained. "I thought, if anyone could do this without being caught, it'd be you."

"Yes, indeed." Caster suddenly turned serious. "But I'm afraid, my dear, that you cannot leave until the distant star, which is the portal in and out of the Grid, opens again..."

"But that only happens if it's opened from the outside..." Mandy replied. "I've not been here that long...it should still be open."

"But, it is not." Caster replied calmly. "Someone inside has shut you off from your world, thus trapping you here."

Mandy and Xamec looked at each other and spoke simultaneously, "Lingdon."

"Most likely, he took control of the Grid and all the programming Clu left behind...stolen from the Creator of course..." Caster looked pointedly at Mandy. "Only one person knows anything about this place, and you know more than you should for a first timer...which begs the question...who are you? What's your last name?" Caster's eyes narrowed slightly as he emphasised the last two words.

Mandy looked Caster dead in the eye. "Flynn. My name is Mandy Flynn."

Mandy watched Caster and Xamec having their heated conversation, listening for excesses in emotion or further quietening of voices. Finally, she got fed up with their whispering.

"You know, I'm right here." Mandy said; standing and facing the pair. "Is it too much to ask that you," she pointed to Xamec, and then Caster, "And good-looking over here, let me into the conversation?"

"Conversation?" Xamec asked.

"Good looking?" Caster smirked at Mandy.

"Yes." Mandy let her eyes travel down Caster's form, drinking in the sight of him before turning back to Xamec. "Yes, conversation. Which I assume was about me, especially since there was whispering, glances in my direction, you know? All the obvious give-aways? It was kind of pathetic." Mandy paused for a moment before continuing, "Can you get me out of here, or not?"

"Not unless the portal opens again." Caster replied. "And until it does, you're stuck here, my dear."

"So we open it." Mandy stated quickly. "We get Lingdon out of the way and open it."

"And how do you propose we keep it open long enough to get you out? It's a long journey to the portal, and not an easy one either." Caster twirled his cane. "And you don't have transport."

"So what do I do?" Mandy asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.

"You wait for the opportune moment." Caster replied. "But you'll have to stay here, on the Grid."

"I won't stay with Lingdon." Mandy stated bluntly.

"Why ever not?" Caster asked, cocking his head to one side.

"I just can't. The way he looks at me..." Mandy shuddered. "It frightens me."

"You don't have anywhere else." Xamec put a hand on her shoulder.

Caster moved between the two and looked Mandy over carefully. "Yes she does."

Xamec looked at him in shock. "Caster?"

"She can stay here," Caster looked at Mandy meaningfully. "With me."

"No." Xamec replied harshly.

"Yes." Mandy's voice was soft, but assertive.

Xamec pulled her aside, away from Caster. "You don't know him, Mandy. You don't know what he's like."

"I know him better than you think I do..." Mandy assured him. "Trust me... and I may just be able to get something out of him... I need to learn how things run here, he can teach me."

"Do you know where to find me?" Xamec asked as he looked over her shoulder at Caster.

"Yes," Mandy shuddered. "How could I forget?"

"Okay then... Caster, is that offer still good?"

"Of course!" Caster replied gleefully. "Not to worry, my old friend, she will be safe with me."

Xamec looked at Mandy one last time before nodding to Caster and leaving the private quarters.

"So, my dear," Caster spoke up, taking her arm and guiding her back to the couch. "Sit, you must have a million questions buzzing through that user mind of yours." Caster tapped the top of her head affectionately before he took her hand in his. "So where shall we start?"


End file.
